Blog Buzz: On 'Bunk' and Boehner

The blogosphere comments on one of its own: Daily Kos, whose founder, Markos Moulitsas, today released an report in which he told readers indicated that the blog’s weekly State of the Nation poll, conducted by firm Research 2000, was “likely bunk.”

Laying out both sides of the case, liberal blogger desmoinesdem at MyDD points out, “Last year the Strategic Vision polling firm was brought down by convincing allegations that at least some of its polling results had been fabricated. Research 2000 had a much better reputation than Strategic Vision, though.”

“Kos’ transparency about polling was the reason the researchers were able to identify the fraud,” mistermix wrote at liberal blog Ballon Juice.

At the conservative HotAir, Ed Morrissey writes that he agrees with Moulitsas that “pollsters should provide full transparency for their surveys so that people can assess performance properly, such as sample size, question formulation, demographics, and so on. Without that information, polls can easily manipulate both respondents and readers alike.” On the news that Moulitsas will be taking the firm to court, however, Morrissey commented, “The only criticism that comes to mind is the lawsuit itself. Why bother? Markos would be better advised to cut his losses.”

And on the liberal side, bloggers are abuzz with John Boehner’s comments on Social Security and financial reform today. Daily Kos responded to Boehner’s Social Security comments by remarking, “Not only could our seniors prove their patriotism by working for several more years, it would mean our brothers in banking won't have to continue to pay the price for their meltdown. It's a win, win solution ... assuming you're a Republican or a banker.” AMERICAblog also chimed in: “Did you hear that senior citizens? The GOP leader admitted he's going to cut your benefits to pay for the war. He's not threatening to end the tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. You remember how Bush and the GOP cut taxes for the rich despite our engagement in two wars. Nope. He's coming for Social Security benefits. You've been warned, senior citizens.”